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The themes of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” are typical of holiday classics: joyousness, renewal, peace, salvation, and an enigmatic recounting of the presence of angels and the birth of Christ. In this arrangement, I sought to create an ethereal modern chorale for solo guitar, emphasizing a modal approach to the melody and avoiding typical triad-centered harmonization. The D A D G A D tuning invites a tonal palette of voicings stacked in fourths (as opposed to thirds) and the inclusion of half-step clusters, which are present as early as the first measure.

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The tempo is slow, gentle, and deliberate, allowing the lyrical nature of the melody to shine above the chord voicings. The first phrase of the song’s melody is excerpted here.